Pssst, want to save some money?

I read this blog this morning; http://babybangs.blogspot.com/2012/08/cracked-goggles.html  The timing was perfect as last night we discovered for sure what I've been suspecting for a while. The new dishwasher is leaking. I don't know if it's done any damage under the sink to the subfloor or not. Then A called saying she was having car trouble. She managed to get it home but now T has to try and fig out what's going on with it. Hoping and praying it's a simple, inexpensive fix.

I've been making our own laundry detergent for some time now. It's natural, easy to make and it's cheap! I started doing this because my cousin (over there under "Blogs I read") got me going on it. The soap doesn't suds much, if at all, and I had a hard time getting past that in my brain. But, the clothes are clean. Would you like to know how to make it, save yourself some money and do something all natural for your family? Here we go.

These are the 3 ingredients. Yes, just 3. They can be found in a small section of the laundry aisle, usually by the laundry boosters. Make sure you get "Super Washing Soda" NOT baking soda. Very important. The soap is about $1 and the boxes are $3-4. The recipe is; 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup borax and 1 bar Fels-Naptha soap, so the cost per recipe is very small. In the nearly a year I've been making it, I'm only on my third box of washing soda and my second box of borax.

Begin by opening the fels-naptha and cutting it into small pieces. I usually cut it in half the long way and then each piece in half again the long way. Then I start cutting smaller pieces from that.

Put it in a food processor or blender. I don't have a food processor so I use a blender and only put half the soap in at a time. Grind it up 'til it's coarse.

Then start adding the washing soda, processing as you go.

Do the same with the borax, dumping parts of it into containers so it's not all in the blender at one time. 

This is the finished product. Store it in an airtight container. Use 1-2 tablespoons per load, depending on size and amount of soil. I usually use a heaping tablespoon for a large load.

You can also use vinegar in place of fabric softener. It's much cheaper and all natural. The vinegar smell doesn't get on the clothes. I've been experimenting with lavendar essence in the vinegar. So far, it's made the vinegar not smell like vinegar but it hasn't gotten the lavendar essence on the clothes. I was wanting to have a faint lavendar smell on my clothes. I will keep experimenting.